Sir – May I add my voice to the concern your readers have expressed over Mr Smith’s desire to see the Guardian prosecuted.

I noticed on Twitter the editor disagreed with him (although rather meekly).

I really felt the MP was let off the hook as he failed to push him fully.

Without the Guardian and others, we would be none the wiser that our intelligence services have been “listening in” to anything and everything we do.

Doubtless they’re not interested in most of it, but surely we have the right to be aware that they at least have the power to do this. Except they don’t, which is the problem.

Further, we wouldn’t know about how the NSA have been listening in to Angela Merkell’s private conversations.

I suspect this is something of a career defining moment for Mr Smith. He’s making waves and winning approval from influential parts of his party.

And all the better – he’s going for a left wing paper!

Sadly I feel politics is playing far too big a role in this. This isn’t about left or right wing, this is about keeping the country safe.

A huge, huge part of that is protecting our civil liberties. The right for an entire population not to be spied on, for example.

There are some extremely worrying implications for press freedom here. A fact which has not gone unnoticed across the world. Our reputation as a free country is at dire risk from politicians trying to make an impact.

I’d suggest there are more important issues Mr Smith could be taking on – for example the perilous state of our NHS with a winter crisis being predicted.

Mr N Bone, Keighley